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Saturday, 29 August 2015

DEPOTTING LIPSTICKS - THE DIY PRO PALETTE

What's a girl to do when she's got more lipsticks than storage? Depot them of course!

I always fancied one of those Bobbi Brown Artist Palettes - a double sided palette with a 54 strong rainbow of lipsticks. Sadly the £190 price tag stands in my way. But with a £10 palette from MAC and a bunch of my own lipsticks I've made a decent dupe!

Depotting your lipsticks is a great way to condense your kit. If you're doing a job there's no point carting around 20-30 lipsticks. Not only does it take up vital space in your kit, but those bullets all look the same - it's no fun turning each one over the check the colour and it certainly ain't efficient! It's also the perfect solution for using up all those lipsticks you bought but barely use!

With of Without Heat?I'm depotting sans heat. You can melt your lipsticks in the microwave or on a tea spoon over a bare flame but, and it's a big BUT, it can change the formula of the lipstick. Lipsticks with shimmer tend to separate and mattes never quite return to matte. Yes it looks tidier but be warned, you might spoilt your lippy.

What to depot your lipsticks in to?

Let's talk containers. There's lots of options - Japonesque, Vueset, Muji or some kind of pill box or button storage. I went down the MAC route because it's a pretty cheap solution and let's be honest, it looks the part. The large pro palette cost £10 and the insert's £2.50. The wells are quite small, they hold around a third of the lipstick - that's a third of the palette and two thirds for you!

Before you start...Organise your lipsticks. I'm not gonna lie, this was my favourite part. I played around with every possible order - light to dark, A to Z, before I finally settled on a colour order - Nudes, pinks, browns then peaches. Make a note of what's where... it's a lot harder once they've been depotted. At some point I may even get a label maker and pop the shades underneath the palette.What you'll need

Lipsticks - OF COURSE!

A palette or pill box

Spatula Chopping board

Kitchen Roll

Wipes

Cotton buds (Qtips)

How to Depot Lipstick

1. Make sure your palette is cleaned/sanitised.

2. Take a spatula and behead your lipstick. My sister watched open-mouth during this part, but worry not, we'll reattach it later.

3. Scoop out all the lipstick inside the tube - You won't believe how much product is hiding down there.

4. Pop the product into the well. Push it down and smooth over with the spatula. Don't worry if it's messy, you can clean up once you're done.

5. Stick the pointed head of the lipstick back in the bullet - good as new!

6. Repeat for each well - yup, it's a labour of love, and wipe your spatula or palette clean with kitchen roll or tissue between each one.

7. Take a wet wipe and some cotton buds and tidy up the sides.

8. Pop the insert back into the palette and voila...

Yes, I realise there's two empty wells. Makes sense to leave a couple of spares for the lipsticks I haven't bought yet. Next, I'm going to do the same for my brights, berries and reds!